Orders

ORDER NUMBER

F-12-17A

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

FortisBC Inc. and British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

British Columbia Utilities Commission Residential Inclining Block Rate Report

BC Sustainable Energy Association and Sierra Club BC’s Application for Participant Assistance/Cost Award

BEFORE:

D. M. Morton, Commissioner

H. G. Harowitz, Commissioner

R. I. Mason, Commissioner

on September 21, 2017

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      By letter dated July 6, 2015, Minister Bennett, the former Minister of Energy and Mines and the Minister Responsible for Core Review, requested the British Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission) to report to the Government of British Columbia on five specific questions concerning the impact of the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority’s (BC Hydro) and FortisBC Inc.’s (FortisBC) residential inclining block rates (RIB Rate Report);

B.      On August 17, 2015, the Commission requested each utility to provide their respective submissions on the methodologies to be used in order to answer the five questions. The Commission also requested stakeholder input from parties who have knowledge of the rate design. The Commission also indicated that Participant Assistance/Cost Awards (PACA) would be available for a maximum of two days for this first phase of the proceeding;

C.      The following stakeholders are participants in this proceeding:

•         Commercial Energy Consumers Association (CEC)

•         British Columbia Old Age Pensioners’ Organization et al. (BCOAPO)

•         BC Sustainable Energy Association and the Sierra Club of BC (BCSEA)

•         Canadian Office & Professional Employees Union 378 (COPE)

•         Norman Gabana

•         Teresa and Nick Marty;

D.      On October 7, 2015, BCOAPO requested allowance for one additional day of PACA;

E.       On October 14, 2015, the Commission issued a letter in response to BCOAPO’s request advising that PACA cost awards for a maximum of three days for the first phase of the proceeding will be considered;

F.       By Order F-4-16 dated February 26, 2016, the Commission ordered Cost Awards to CEC, BCOAPO and BCSEA in the amounts of $4,160.63, $4,946.00, $4,671.45 respectively. BC Hydro and FortisBC were directed to split the costs evenly;

G.      On September 30, 2016, BC Hydro and FortisBC filed their respective utility reports;

H.      On October 7, 2016, the Commission requested comments on the BC Hydro and FortisBC utility reports from stakeholders in the proceeding and any interested members of the public by November 24, 2016;

I.        On December 22, 2016, the Commission sent a letter informing the participants that information gathering for the RIB Rate Report is complete;

J.        On March 28, 2017, the Commission’s RIB Rate Report was submitted to the Government of British Columbia;

K.      On April 7, 2017, BCSEA submitted a PACA Application with the Commission with respect to their participation in the second phase of the RIB Rate Report proceeding, for work completed after December 18, 2015, for a total of $9,414.04 (BCSEA PACA Application);

L.       By letter dated May 9, 2017, FortisBC provided its response to the BCSEA PACA Application expressing that it has reviewed BCSEA’s PACA Application, and so long as the Commission has no concerns with it, FortisBC has no comments;

M.    By letter dated May 11, 2017, BC Hydro provided its response to the BCSEA PACA Application stating that it finds the cost claims to be substantially consistent with PACA Guidelines and that BCSEA contributed towards a better understanding of the issues in the proceeding, and BC Hydro leaves it to the Commission as to the level of cost award to be made;

N.     By letter dated September 21, 2017, the Commission informed stakeholders that PACA would be available for a maximum of six days for the second phase of the proceeding, for work completed between December 18, 2015 and December 22, 2016. Further, the Commission set a deadline for PACA applications to be submitted by October 27, 2017; and

O.     The Commission has reviewed BCSEA’s PACA Application in accordance with the criteria and rates set out in the PACA Guidelines attached to Commission Order G-72-07, and comments from the utilities and concludes that the cost award should be approved and evenly split between FortisBC and BC Hydro given that it was an equal amount of work for BCSEA to review the two utilities’ reports. 

NOW THEREFORE pursuant to section 118(1) of the Utilities Commission Act, the Commission orders as follows:

1.       Funding is awarded to BCSEA in the listed amount for their participation in the second phase of the Commission’s RIB Rate Report proceeding:

2.       BC Hydro and FortisBC must evenly split the awarded PACA cost and are directed to reimburse the
above-noted participant for the awarded amount in a timely manner.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this       19^th           day of October 2017.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

D. M. Morton

Commissioner